Search

Durch die neuzeitliche Lösung vom dominierenden Einfluss der Theologie hat sich innerhalb der Philosophie die Disziplin einer eigenständigen Religionsphilosophie herausgebildet, in der Religion zum Gegenstand philosophischer Reflexion wird. In diesem Rahmen wurde auch die jüdische Religion als konkrete historische Erscheinung Gegenstand genuin philosophischer Reflexion, Deutung und Wertung. Neben Moses Mendelssohn und B…

If the question of right action is viewed as the object of ethics in general, the term “Jewish ethics” designates first of all those norms and ideals by which human action is organized, or should be organized, in the context of Jewish culture and religion. Concretely, widely different historical, cultural, and religious phenomena of Judaism could be included in this concept, which overlap only partially with comparable manifestations in other cultures. In the moder…

Modernity’s release from the dominant influence of theology has enabled the emergence within philosophy of an independent discipline, the philosophy of religion, in which religion becomes the subject of philosophical reflection. In this larger framework, the Jewish religion as a concrete historical phenomenon also became the subject of genuine philosophical reflection, interpretati…

[German Version] 1. Joseph (acronym: RIKaM, Maistre Petit; 1105? – 1170?, probably Narbonne in Provence), a Jewish grammarian, Bible exegete, translator, and polemicist as well as the father of Moses and David (see 2 below). Born i…

[German Version] (1367, Barcelona – 1412, Zaragoza), as the leading personality among the Spanish Jews (Sephardim), Crescas devoted himself to the material and intellectual rebuilding of communities after the persecutions of 1391. His polemical work Bittul 'Iqqare ha-Nozrim also served this purpose. In his chief philosophical work, Or Adonai (also known as Or ha-Shem), he proposed, against the Aristotelianism of M. Maimonides the possibility of the infinity of space, t…

[German Version] The Peshitta is a translation of the Old Testament into the Aramaic dialect of Edessa; in an ¶ extended sense, the term also embraces the translation of the New Testament (Bible translations: I, 3.a). It is still in use in the Jacobite and Nestorian churches (Syria: V, 2). The name, in use since the 9th century, means “simple (version),” in contrast to more extensive homiletical translations, probably not the “common” (cf. the Lat. Vulgate) or “single” in contrast to the “sextuple” Hexapla. The Pes…

[German Version] Reckoned among the apocryphal books (Apocrypha: II) of the Old Testament, the book of Tobit contains a didactic narrative with strong legendary traits. The first part (1:1–3:17) describes the law-abiding Tobit as he is led into Assyrian exile, where he suffers heavy blows of fate (loss of fortune, blindness). At the same time, the text also relates the story of Sarah, who lives in Media and whose seven husbands have been killed by the demon Ashmedai on their wedding nights. God an…

[German Version] (also: Ecclesiasticus, Jesus Sirach, Ben Sira). Until the 1896 discovery of the Hebrew original in the Cairo Genizah, Sirach was known only in Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions and translations dependent on them. Despite initial doubts as to the antiquity of the Hebrew texts (see Reiterer for the history), additional fragments from Masada and Qumran (1962/1965) have confirmed its authenticity (some 68% of the text; Beentjes’s edition is complete). All the extant versions, however, exhibit substa…

[German Version] (acronym RaSaG; 882, Faiyum, Upper Egypt – 942, Sura, Babylonia), from 928 the first non-Babylonian head (Gaon) of the rabbinic academy in Sura. As a philologist, exegete, controversialist, and philosopher, he was an outstanding figure in 10th-century Judaism. In 915 he settled in Palestine, where he wrote his first philological work, Sefer ha-Agron. From the year 921 at the latest, Saadia – who appears to have been a contentious character all his life – lived in Babylonia. There he became involved in the so-call Ben Meir controver…

[German Version] Judeo-Persian is the common term for the language of all New Persian documents written in Hebrew script. Despite several differences from standard New Persian, it is not a distinct language but the local Persian dialect of the various regions where it emerged. The earliest Judeo-Persian document is the Tang-i Azao inscription, the oldest written example of New Persian. From the 8th-13th centuries only a few documents of religious or secular content have survived. The real beginning of Judeo-Persian literature, associated with th…

[German Version] Manasseh, Prayer of, a penitential psalm classified among the Old Testament apocrypha (II). It probably represents a later continuation of the new tradition of 2 Chr 33, as against 2 Kgs 21, to the effect that the otherwise negatively portrayed king did penance during his Assyrian captivity and that his prayer is preserved in the “Chronicle of the Kings…

[German Version] The six passages in the LXX not extant in the MT (A, F=Mordecai's dream before Esth 1 and at Esth 10:3; B, E=the king's letters at Esth 3:13 and 8:12; C=prayers …

1. Christentum 1.1. BegriffDas Abstraktum Frömmigkeit (= Fr.) und das zugrunde liegende Adjektiv fromm bildeten lange Zeit Polyseme. Bis ins späte 19. Jh. erhielt sich die ursprgl. Bedeutung: Das althochdt. fruma stand für »Nutzen«, das abgeleitete mhdt. Adjektiv vrum ( frumb) wurde im Sinne von »förderlich«, »nützlich«, »brauchbar« verwendet (z. B. »ein frommes Pferd«, »zu Nutz und Frommen«); auf Personen bezogen konnte es aber auch »treu«, »rechtschaffen« und »tüchtig« bedeuten. Als Ausdruck von Ordnungsgemäßheit wurde selbst Gott …

1. Christianity 1. TerminologyThe German abstract noun Frömmigkeit (piety) and the adjective it is based on –  fromm (pious, devout) – were long polysemous. Until the late 19th century, they pres…

[German Version] …

[German Version] I. Judaism 1. Antiquity. The Trisagion from Isa 6:3 (Heb. Qedusha, Q ) appears in three places in the synagogal liturgy (VII; see also Worship: II, 3), sometimes in combination with Ezek 3:12 and Ps 146:10: (1) as an interpolation in the third benediction of the ʿAmida ( Q. ha-ʿAmida), (2) in the first benediction of the Shemaʿ ( Q. ha-Yotser), and (3) after the weekly portion ( Q. de-Sidra). The origin and relative age of the individual forms of the Qedusha are disputed; its absence in the liturgical texts from Qumran is noteworthy (esp. the Sabbath Songs). A dating of the e…

[German Version] I. Concept and Scope – II. Religious Studies – III. Bible – IV. Judaism – V. As a Theological Discipline – VI. As a Philosophical Discipline (Business Ethics, Discourse Ethics, Economic Ethics, Ethics, Bio-Medical Issues, Ethics Commissions, Ethics Education, Ethics of Conviction, Ethics of Duty, Ethics…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Christianity – III. Philosophy – IV. Judaism – V. Islam I. Religious Studies Gnosis (Gk γνῶσις/ gnṓsis, “knowledge”) is a particular form of religious knowledge that brings salvation per se. It is not dependent on a particular object but has its value and its justif…

[German Version] I. Terminology The word syncretism in its broadest sense denotes any blend or combination of diverse cultural phenomena. This usage derives from an apparently reasonable but false etymology: syncretism is commonly derived from the Greek verb συνκεράννυμι/ synkeránnymi, “mix.” In fact, however, it is a neologism coined by Plutarch ( Mor. 490b), who cal…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Antiquity – III. Bible – IV. Church History – V. Practical …